DANDY and the LAND of the LONG WHITE CLOUD
by Hayley Dinnison & Stuart Willis
to be directed by Stuart Willis
INT. CHILDREN'S PLAYGROUP - DAY
Waiting for story time, twenty children sit around a sock puppet on a chair.. DANDY and appears troubled. His bleak appearance is in stark contrast to the bright saturated colours of the playgroup.
DANDY: Boys and girls, my name is Dandy. I'm here to tell you a story about a dark time in my life. Not dark like the night sky but dark like
HACK!. DANDY is interrupted by his own coughing. Splutter
DANDY is passed a bottle of water and takes a sip from the pink bendy straw.
DANDY: Oh yes... a very dark time indeed.
EXT. (FLASHBACK) UNKNOWN STREET- DAY
DANDY lies on top of a box, wearing a straw hat and sunglasses. From a pink bendy straw, he sips from a bottle of artichoke wine. Feet walk all around him.
DANDY: (drunkenly yelled) Stupid people with their filthy feet. GET OFF MY STREET.
DANDY spits at a shoe.
DANDY (VO) : Whenever I thought I couldn't sink any lower, I would fall into a new sewer....
EXT. (FLASHBACK) GUTTER - LATER
DANDY lies in a gutter, a dirty stream running underneath him. Damp and dirty, he coughs. A shadow falls across DANDY.
DANDY (V.O.): Then one serendipitous day a man came from me. A man unlike any other, the Mary Poppins of men, he was:
It is SAM NEILL casting the shadow across DANDY!
DANDY (V.O.) Sam Neill. The Sam Neill.
SAM NEILL leans down.
SAM NEILL: There is somewhere you need to go. Come.
EXT. FLYING HIGH IN THE SKY - DAY
Below stretches a huge whiteness of cloud. Gaps appear revealing the gorgeous snowy peaks and lush green troughs of NEW ZEALAND.
Above the white cloud is a FLYING WAKA. SAM NEILL and DANDY are rowing - DANDY's whole mouth wrapped around the oar.
DANDY (VO): He took me to the magical land of the Long White Cloud.
EXT. A LUSCIOUS GREEN VALLEY - DAY
In delicious slow-mo, SAM NEILL and DANDY run hand-in-hand through lush pastures.
DANDY (VO): We were inseparable.
DANDY and SAM NEILL tumble sideways down a grassy knoll. DANDY's little sock body clearly without a hand.
EXT. (FLASHBACK) WAIOTAPU STREAM - DAY
DANDY and SAM NEILL sit at opposite ends of a hot spring. They cannot see each other through the steam.
DANDY (VO): He took me to places I could only dream of.
The steam clears. Across the lake, they look lovingly into each other's eyes and buttons. DANDY's button eyes pop out from his head.
EXT. (FLASHBACK) MOUNTAIN PEAK - DAY
The pair come to the end of a trailwalk and are at the top of a BEAUTIFUL mountain peak. They smile at each other. SAM takes a deep breath. DANDY tries but coughs uncontrollably.
DANDY (VO): He taught me how to push myself in ways I never thought possible.
EXT. (FLASHBACK) BUNGEE JUMP - DAY
DANDY and SAM NEILL are suited up and ready to jump. They hold hands and together they leap... the blue cord unwrapping behind him. DANDY tumbles through the air.
DANDY (VO): But it was not to last.
EXT. LAKE WAKATIPU - DAWN
The orange fingers of sunrise. Gorgeous. SAM and DANDY stand by the shore of LAKE WAKATIPU.
SAM NEILL: The time is come. You are ready.
DANDY: For what?
SAM NEILL puts his fingers to DANDY's mouth: "shhh"
SAM NEILL: Trust me.
He grabs DANDY and DUNKS him into LAKE WAKATIPU. Bubbles trickle to the top. A moment passes. Tense.
SAM pulls out DANDY from the water, rings him dry and puts him down. DANDY looks at himself. He is clean. The dirt has gone. He tries to cough but nothing comes.
DANDY: I'm so clean, so pure. How can I repay you?
SAM NEILL: You don't have to. My work here is done. Time for me to find other lost socks.
SAM NEILL takes out an umbrella and opens it. With a GUST OF WIND he floats up into the clouds.
DANDY: Sam, oh Sam!
SAM NEILL: (calling) Good luck Dandy! Don't forget to dry out in the sun otherwise you'll start smelling...
INT. CHILDREN'S PLAYGROUND
DANDY: (oblivious) Sam, oh, Sam.
Realising he's still in the playgroup, he stifles his sobs.
DANDY: So boys and girls. I hope you can take a lot from today's story. I know you are young but just remember you are never alone because the pure spirit of Sam Neill watches over us all. Thank you.
Something hits DANDY in the face.
DANDY: Hey! who did that?
KID: So why do you still cough?
DANDY stares.
DANDY: I'm going to get you, kid.
FINI.
DIRECTORS STATEMENT
by Stuart Willis
WHY:
Because I think a key part of the New Zealand Spirit is their sense of humour - it's dry, slightly absurd, and very understated. They don't have the pomposity to be sentimental.
New Zealand is probably the only country in the world that would have the sense of humour to cast a sock puppet in a film about their pure natural spirit. I think thats awesome and is exactly why I want to make this story.
STORY:
Somewhere in the world, DANDY is a homeless and filthy sock until one day Dandy great Sam Neill visits him. Sam wants to take him somewhere special... The Land of the Long Cloud. Here, Sam and Dandy undergo many great adventures - from lofty peaks to steamy waters - until one day SAM decides that DANDY is ready: he washes Dandy in the pure New Zealand water. Dandy is clean once more. His work done, SAM NEILL once again takes to the clouds to find more lost socks he can help.
Dandy and the Land of the Long Lost Cloud, is a simple story and a playful comedy. Its humour comes from the contrast of a home-made sock puppet and the awe-inspiring beauty of New Zealand.
LOOK/FEEL:
Epic low-fi.
We want shot it beautifully with strong widescreen compositions. Natural lighting. Natural colours. Camera movement is well choreographed, to bring the audience in the story and minimize setups. These big shots will be cut against shots taken from Dandy's perspective: low to the ground, looking up. Give it a sense of huge scale. He is the audience's surrogate.
Yet, the effects shots should be done in camera whenever possible. A little raw. e.g. when Dandy rolls down the hill we put a ball inside him and push him off, when he bungee jumps we wrap the rope around his base and throw him off!
For me, the visual contrast supports the comedy while also showing off NZ.
Music is orchestral, rousing, swelling - probably intentionally melodramatic.
Editing is simple - we want to avoid overcutting. There won't be much coverage, rather we would be using only 1-3 shots per scene. Emphasis is on the landscape and the jokes.
FEASIBILITY
The biggest question regarding feasibility is Sam Neill. Of course, we are going to ask him to be in the project - but if he declines or is otherwise unavailable there are three options open to us.
1. We cast an unknown who just happens to be called SAM NEILL. The joke then becomes that Dandy doesn't see the different.
2. We cast an other iconic New Zealander for e.g. Jermaine from Flight of the Conchords or ???
3. We embrace our low-fi aesthetic and either cast someone in a Sam Neill mask OR use a look-a-like.
Either way, I am confident that the script will still work.
The second big question is the number of locations we have and how we can get through them in two days.
Locations can be grouped together around Queenstown - with, say, the waiotapu stream faked at Lake Wakatipu. There will be travel time, so we need to be smart about our shooting order to minimise travel time, and we need to maximise what we get on set. Consolidating locations where possible
Our star is a sock puppet, so he rarely tucks a tantrum and goes to his trailer. Bonus. We can also make multiple puppets for continuity of, say, dirt - so we can shoot out of sequence without the overhead of continuity.
There is minimal dialogue on location. This means we don't have to worry about perfect location sound so we can move faster.
The coverage is also minimal - the scenes are mostly played out in master shots with a few pickups. Ideally, if budget permits we can shoot some B-Rolls and cross-coverage to save time.
Lighting will be mostly natural with the occasional augmentation. To no big lighting setups? I say yay.
Our epic low-fi style buys us flexibility with approach. If anything arises in pre-production that seems difficult or impossible, we can "swede" the shot and it will fit within the overall production
SUMMARY
This is a fantastic opportunity for whoever gets their big break. I thank you for the opportunity! I hope that Dandy and the Land of the Long White Cloud tickles your fancy cause Dandy would tickle yours.
ABOUT STU
Stuart graduated from his, um, law degree in 2005 (yes, we're all embarrassed about that). From 2005-07 Stuart honed his experience working on such films as Superman Returns (2006), Charlotte’s Web (2006) and Harry Potter 5 (2007). From 2007-08 Stuart worked with the Cannes Lion award winning director Michael Gracey, running his Babyfoot Productions studio. He was also a VFX Producer on The Square (2008). After a wrapping on Australia (2008), Stuart spent 2009 developing his own projects as a director, which resulted in two short films Not My Film (2010) and 307 (2010) both which are entering the festival circuit right now. He's also been developing the tv series Going For Broke (TBD), which was Highly Commended by the Screen Producer's Association of Australia at their annual pitching competition.
Stuart is also heavily involved in the Sydney improvised comedy scene as both a performer and director. He has performed on the mainstage of the Belvoir Theatre, the Fusebox at Factory, and at Full Body Contact, No Love Tennis, amongst others.
Stuart combines the precision and planning of a post/vfx background with the manic spontaneity of improvised performance. This makes him especially suited to the kind of high concept comedy of
Dandy and the Land of the Long White Cloud.
Select Filmography
307 (2010). Short. Director. Selected by the Australian Directors Guild for a Masterclass workshop, 2009.
Not My Film (2010). Short. Director/Co-Producer. Script development funded by Metroscreen.
Go/No-Go, “Catching up with You” (2009). Music video. Director/Producer.
Ringer (2008). Short. Director/Editor. Finalist 'BloomFest 3'
Australia (2008). Feature. Senior VFX Coordinator, Animal Logic.
The Square (2008). Feature. VFX Producer, Babyfoot Productions.
HTC Touch, Set Your Fingers Free (2008). TVC campaign. Line & VFX Producer, Babyfoot Productions.
Lite White, Australia’s Milk (2008). TVC campaign. Producer, Babyfoot Productions.
I Love Sarah Jane (2008). Short. VFX Producer, Babyfoot Productions. Screened at Sundance 2008.
Sainsbury’s Christmas (2007). TVC campaign. Producer, Babyfoot Productions.
Harry Potter 5 (2007). Feature. Senior VFX Coordinator, Rising Sun Pictures.
Charlotte’s Web (2006). Feature. VFX Coordinator, Rising Sun Pictures.
Superman Returns (2006). Feature. VFX Coordinator, Rising Sun Pictures.
The Goblin Game (2003). Short. Director. 2003 Kaleidoscope Festival. 2004 Homebrewed Festival.
Albert Lopez said...
brilliant! I was entertained by your pitch too. I'm also a Sam Neil fan!